34 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



uncouth Indian name, which appears on the maps ; at the same time " Don " replaced 

 an equally unmanageable Indian name, describing the river at the eastern end of our 

 harbour. The interpretation of these two lapsed Indian names I am not able at pres- 

 ent to give, but d6ubtless they were both significant. At the same time that the 

 names " Humber " and " Don " were imposed upon these two streams, the name 

 " Nen " was, by authority, given to the next river to the eastward, previously known 

 as the Rouge or Red River. " Nen," however, became a lapsed name, and the 

 Rouge retained, and still retains, its original appellation. " Nen," like " Humber " 

 and " Don," was the name of a river in Yorkshire. It was the evident aim of the 

 authorities to Anglicise the river names, and the notable river, still known as the 

 Grand River, entering Lake Erie from the north, was enjoined to be known only as 

 the " Ouse," another Yorkshire river name ; but again popular usage prevailed, and 

 " Ouse " became another instance of a lapsed name. " Grand River," of course, had 

 nothing distinctive in it, and every river of a considerable size was, amongst the 

 French, a " Grande Riviere." The Mississippi was so par excellence among the 

 Indians, such being, in an emphasized way, the signification of that word. 



A widely-received French appellation for our Canadian Thames was La Tranche, 

 until forcibly Over-ridden by royal proclamation. 



More than one lapsed usage in regard to the River Niagara may be in place here. 

 Wherever the name occurs in early English verse, the metre obliges us to make the 

 penultimate syllable long in quantity, showing that such was the prevailing pro- 

 nunciation at the outset. Further, it appears from the early records, that an O has 

 been dropped ofif from the beginning of this word, as has happened likewise in the 

 case of other Indian appellatives ; thus we have Miami and Omiami, Swegatchie 

 and Oswegatchie, Chouegon and Ochouegoil (the modern Oswego), Mimico and 

 Omimico, Chippeway and Ochipway, Tessalon and Otessalon, and some others. 

 So Niagara was once Oniagara, a form of the word now entirely lapsed. There is 

 reason to think that a like clipping off of an O has taken place in " Toronto," together 

 with the suppression of a final N. Sagard, in his Huron, or rather Wyandotte 

 vocabulary, gives both " Toronton " and " Otoronton." The expression signifies a 

 large quantity, whether of human beings or of provision for their sustenance, both 

 O and IN probably representing a nasal sound very familiar to us in former days, in 

 ilndian viva-voce utterances. Another substitution in modern times of a short A for 

 a long one in an Indian name, seems to be shown in Moore's " Uttawa's Tide" 

 (read Uttah-wa's tide ) meaning the River Ottawa, the first syllable of which name 

 he evidently ;caught as U and not O. 



We are slowly becoming accustomed to the style and title of " Niagara-on-the- 

 Lake," used in modern times for the purpose of distinguishing the old town of 

 Niagara from what is now designated as Niagara South, meaning thereby Drum- 

 mondville, which is expected hereafter to become a lapsed term, although, of course, 

 it will take a long time to bring that about. Old Niagara might have fallen back 

 upon a lapsed name of its own, viz. : Newark, the name borne by its site when the first 

 Parliament of Upper Canada was held there. The place we now call Queenston was 

 l<:nown aforetime as the " Carrying Place," the place of debarkation for the " Grande 

 Portage " round the Falls of Niagara, in the voyageurs' route between Lakes Ontario 

 and Erie. Another lapsed name for Queenston, in the same regard, was the 

 " Lower Landing." 



Burlington Bay, at the head of Lake Ontario, received that name by proclama- 

 tion on July i6th, 1799. Previous to this date it had strangely borne the name of 

 Geneva Lake ; so we are informed by tTie first Gazetteer of Upper Canada. The lapsed 

 name, we may suppose, arose from the picturesque beauty of the sheet of water 

 indicated. 



On the north shore of Lake Ontario, close to Burlington Bay, a name has 

 lapsed into disuse within the past few years. I refer to Wellington Square, now 

 known as Burlington. The word " Square," I believe, referred originally to a square 



